Fewer cars are being stolen in the Las Vegas area. In fact, thefts are down 32 percent from the same time last year. If the numbers hold, Metro police will have cut the number of auto thefts in Las Vegas by more than half since 2006.
The area with the largest drop was the Las Vegas Strip which saw a 40 percent decrease. Police say that people are being more aware.
Las Vegas is still one of the most likely places to have your car stolen. Las Vegas ranks number two in the nation for auto theft per capita.
That is down slightly from the past two years when Las Vegas was in the top spot. That designation now goes to Modesto, California. The report is compiled by the National Insurance Crime Bureau.
Top 10 metro areas by per capita auto theft rate for 2007
1. Modesto, Calif.
2. Las Vegas/Paradise, Nev.
3. San Diego/Carlsbad/San Marcos, Calif.
4. Stockton, Calif.
5. San Francisco/Oakland/Fremont, Calif.
6. Laredo, Texas
7. Albuquerque, N.M.
8. Phoenix/Mesa/Scottsdale, Ariz.
9. Yakima, Wash.
10. Tucson, Ariz.
Advocates on both sides of the gun control debate are fired up after a new report shows Nevada isn’t doing enough to keep firearms out of the hands of criminals.
The National Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence just released its annual scorecard. It ranks states by how effective their existing laws are in curbing gun violence and illegal gun trafficking.
“Gun control doesn’t control criminals. We need to control criminals,” said gun store owner Bob Irwin.
Of the estimated 300,000 revelers that made Las Vegas their destination for New Year’s, Las Vegas Metro police reports that only 79 were arrested, compared to 145 arrests last year.
It seems that people took more care on the streets as well, as traffic accidents fell from 98 last year to 36 this year.
According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, Las Vegas is now the United States’ car theft capital. Las Vegas has steadly risen in the ranks of car theft, claiming the number three spot in 2004, number two in 2005, and now all the way to number one.
The ranking is based on the theft rate in a given metro area. In 2006, there were 1,310 cars stolen in the Las Vegas metro area for every 100,000 people.
Cities in the western United States dominate the list, with 17 of the top 20 cities being the highest rates of car theft. Click more to see the top twenty.
It is a sad statistic for Nevada. A report released by The Violence Policy Center (VPC) Tuesday ranks Nevada first in the nation in the rate of women killed by men, with a rate of 2.53 per 100,000. The report, “When Men Murder Women: An Analysis of 2005 Homicide Data,” aims to raise awareness about this issue. The previous year, Nevada was ranked fifth.
